JULIE VASS (13) BEATS THE BOYS TO WIN
DONALD ROSS MEMORIAL TROPHY

By ROBIN WILSON
After the complexity of equating the scores from both girls and boys competing for the Donald Ross Memorial Trophy at Royal Dornoch this week, Tain junior girl Julie Vass emerged the overall winner of the main trophy with net scores of 71 and 73 that equated to four strokes below the women's combined SSS of 148 for the Strue and Championship courses used at Dornoch.
It was a memorable effort by the 13-year-old Tain prospect. She became only the second girl to have won this internationally attended competition. This week there were entrants from three Scandinavian countries, Denmark, Norway and Sweden, on top of a strong North and North-east representation in the field of 90.
This weekend Julie's older sister Sammy jets off to Texas as a member of the lucky 12 chosen for the Grampian Houston Junior Trip experience. Included in this group also is Nairn Dunbar's Kelsey MacDonald who scored 76 (Struie) and 77 (Championship) to win the Royal Golf Club Trophy as best overall scratch performer.
Kelsey's scores were also against the par of both courses and she finished at +5 to beat Jamie Treasurer (Loch Ness) into second place. Treasurer's excellent second-day 72 over the championship course to add to his 74 on Struie helped him win the individual boys' trophy.
The North District's Sandy Aird Order of Merit table climaxed at the Dornoch event and Treasurer's first place saw him overtake previous Under-16 merit table leader Ali Begg (Muir of Ord) and finish top with 93pt from his six best finishes during the season.
Begg came second on 89pt. Rising to a third place on 67 points after his Dornoch effort was Kyle Godsman (Hopeman).
Brora's Calum Stewart did not improve on his points at Royal Dornoch but he had done enough during the season to remain as the Under-14 age group winner with 99.5pt.
Runner-up was Ross Proctor (Forres), 84.5pt, and third Jordan Milne (Elgin) with 57pt.

Results in the Donald Ross Junior tournament at Royal Dornoch were:
Donald Ross Trophy: Julie Vass (Tain) -5
Royal Dornoch Trophy: Overall Gross - Kelsey MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar) +5
Boys Handicap (36 holes): Jamie Treasurer (Loch Ness) -2. C. Nelson (The Nairn) -1. C. Dixon (Hopeman) -1
Girls Handicap (36 Holes): A. Hutton (Falkirk Tryst) -2. K. Scott (Windyhill) +3, H. McCook (Abernethy) +4.
Round 1 Struie course: E Chancellor (Inverness) -3, C MacLeod (Nairn Dunbar) -1, R Clarke (Moray) -1.
Round 2 Championship course: K. MacKintosh (Broomieknowe) -5, R Renwick (Invergordon)
-4, A McHardy (Prestonfield) -4.

Caption for Robin Wilson's picture above:
Back row (left to right): Euan Chancellor (Inverness), Jamie Treasurer (Loch Ness), Roger Clarke (Moray), Gordon Lawson (Royal Dornoch GC captain), Cameron Dixon (Hopeman), Christian MacLeod (Nairn Dunbar).
Front row: Arran McHardy (Prestonfield), Kate McIntosh (Invergordon), Julie Vass (Tain), Kelsey MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar), Alexis Hutton Hutton (Falkirk Tryst).
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